What kind of programs succeed on Television?

Television programs serve to gather an audience for the commercials. For this reason there has been surprisingly little change in programming since the beginning of television. Networks tend to stick with what has worked in the past.
When a certain type of program proves successful on one network, the others often rush to produce a similar one. This "success copying" accounts for the waves of popularity of certain types of shows from season to season. One season medical shows may be popular; the next, ethnic humor or dramas about rural families; the next, police stories or westerns.
Most commercial TV programming can be placed in one of the following categories listed in the margin.
No one knows before a television show is broadcast how many viewers it will attract. Very few series last more than three years; many are cancelled during their first year. One dependable type of program is the daytime TV drama, popularly known as the soap opera because it originated on radio shows and soap companies were often sponsors. Another dependable type of program is the police tale or crime show.
The following article reveals much about television in its behind-the-scene examination of the world of the soap opera. It is revealing for the student of television to look at typical programming, and nothing is more typical than the soap opera.